Pham Ho is at a police station in Phu Yen Province,
August 21, 2020. Photo courtesy of Phu Yen Police. 

Police in the south-central province of Phu Yen have arrested two local residents for conducting activities aimed against the state authority. 

Pham Ho, 71, is being investigated for "carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people's administration." Tran Thi Tuyet Dieu, 32, is under investigation for "producing, storing, and spreading materials opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam," Colonel Tran Trong Hien, deputy chief of Phu Yen Police, said Saturday.

Investigators said Ho had joined the Provisional National Government of Vietnam, an organization classified as terrorist by the Ministry of Public Security.

The organization was established in 1990 by Dao Minh Quan in the U.S. with the aim to overthrow the Vietnamese government through violence and acts of terrorism, according to the ministry.

In 2018, Ho called on supporters to join a referendum in support of the organization while posting articles praising Quan on Facebook.

Last year, he was given two phones to organize a conspiracy to overthrow the government. He started connecting with members of the organization in Ho Chi Minh City this year.

Dieu meanwhile had drafted, published and distributed videos and articles containing fabricated content discrediting the government from the end of 2017 to May this year, investigation found.

Under Vietnam’s Penal Code, conducting activities to overthrow the government is punishable by death while anti-government propaganda can be punished with up to 20 years in jail.